Effectiveness of Group Play Therapy in Generalized Anxiety Disorder of Children

Objective: Anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric disorders and almost 30% of the primary school children are affected by various kinds of it. Group play therapy has been reported to be a useful component of treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The goal of this research was to determine the efficacy of this treatment in children with GAD. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 30 youths with GAD aged between 5 and 11 referred from Isfahan child psychiatric clinics were randomly assigned to two groups (15 patients in each group). Parents’ form of CSI-4 questionnaire, GAD subscale, was used to diagnose the problem of these children with the help of a child psychiatrist. Case group got 1-hour weekly sessions for three months while no intervention was done for control group (waiting list). Analysis of covariance was used to compare two groups. Results: Analysis of covariance showed that group play therapy reduces GAD symptoms in posttest stage meaningfully (p=0.02). It also reduces GAD symptoms in follow up significantly (p 0.0001). Conclusion: The results of this study shows that group play therapy can be an effective method for reducing GAD symptoms in posttest and follow up stage.